A New Year Hat-trick

January 2016, Victoria

​Well it’s been a bit of a whirlwind start to 2016 for Victorian Birders with some incredible sightings of some truly incredible birds. We’ve had three state mega rarities starting with Victoria’s first record of Little Shearwater since 2005, the state’s 11th only record of Red-necked Phalarope and a state first in the form of Wandering Tattler. For state listers it’s been a bit of a bonanza, providing many with the opportunity to add some highly sought after ticks to their checklists.

The first rarity to come in was a pair of Little Shearwater seen way out to sea during a Port Fairy pelagic. This was a special mid-week trip that I had especially organised for a group of birding friends from America so as to line up with their travelling dates. We had an excellent day out at sea with reasonable numbers of Shy Albatross, White-faced Storm Petrel and a brief view of a pterodroma species that was most likely a Gould’s Petrel. The Little Shearwater were spotted at our 1st stop at the shelf coming up the back of the slick alongside a handful of Fairy Prion, Short-tailed Shearwater and Great-winged Petrel. Thankfully, they landed briefly towards the side of the boat allowing everyone to get good views and take a few shots. By looking at distribution, range and atlasing, we can presume that these birds were most likely to have wandered over from WA, making them subspecies tunneyi. It was pretty exciting to chance upon this species, as it wasn’t even on my radar as a likely tick – Long-tailed Jaeger fast becoming my bogey seabird. Another major pelagic highlight came in the form of a 50+ member pod of Long-finned Pilot Whale, a rarity in this part of the world. We also had a numerous Oceanic Bottlenosed Dolphin as well as a handful of Common Dolphin and Australian Fur Seal.

The second big bird for Victoria was a Red-necked Phalarope located at the Western Treatment Plant, one of the world’s most renowned birding locations. Seen first by wildlife ecologist and guide John Harris, this was a bird I was particularly excited to see for myself. It is a true Australian vagrant with only a few scattered records nationally and only four for Victoria since 2002 (11 records in total for Vic). Red-necked Phalarope are a gregarious species, normally congregating in large flocks on the open ocean where they swim on the surface searching for small creatures to feed on. The bird in question did not disappoint, demonstrating it’s unique swimming skills even in the shallow waters of the T-Section. The bird was quickly located on the following morning and has continued to show well since it’s discovery on January 20th - moving between Summer Pond #2 and Pond #7. It has loosely associated with both Marsh Sandpiper whilst in the shallow ponds and Banded Stilt and Red-necked Avocet when in deeper waters. The last record for Victoria was of a single bird at Lake Tutchewop, observed for only two days from the 23rd December 2014.

Red-necked Phalarope - by Alison Nisbett

Twitchers!

Size comparison

​Before anyone could get too comfortable with the Red-necked Phalarope, Tim Dolby (co-author of “Finding Australian Birds” and editor of “Where To See Birds In Victoria”) whilst on holiday in East Gippsland found an interesting tattler that was soon idenitifed as a Wandering Tattler – a first for the state and serious mega bird. Notably out of range, this species is a reef specialist, commonly found on rocky coasts, exposed reefs and reef-fringed islands off SE Queensland. Tim first observed the bird on Sunday the 17th of January, technically before the Red-necked Phalarope but due to internet issues, it wasn’t reported in the 21st. The tattler was located in the vast Croajingolong National Park at a reef area called Clintons Rocks, an site approximately 6 hours from Melbourne and only accessible by 4WD. The quickest way to the site is to follow the M1 out of Melbourne, drive about 5 hours to Cann River, turn right and head south on Tamboon Rd and continue on to Clinton Rocks Track until you reach the reef and shoreline (-37.777723, 149.197427). Follow up reports on the 23rd and 24th of January were successful in relocating the bird. This is also a good area for White-bellied Sea Eagle, Hooded Plover, Great Crested Tern and Australian Pied Oystercatcher.

All in all, a pretty spectacular start for 2016 - particularly if we also look at the wader rarities on a national level. Other highlight sightings have included such birds as the Hudsonian Godwit (NSW), Grey-headed Lapwing (Cocos) and Little Stint (WA). As we're only halfway through the wader period, it will be interesting to see how the season continues to develop and what other rarities may progress with it.